Communication Model of Social Networks, Media Literacy, Social Capital and the Social Identity of the Sport Program Makers of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting

The aim of this study was to investigate the communication model of the social networks, media literacy, social capital and social identity of the sport program makers in the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB). This methodology was applied, strategic, quantitative and correlation. The statistical population consisted of all IRIB sport program makers. SPSS Sample Power software was used to estimate the size of the sample. Considering the maximum independent variable affecting the dependent variables involved in research regression models and error percentage of 0.05, power above 0.80 and the effect size of 0.05, the sample size was estimated to be 324 subjects who were selected from a population of 350 subjects. The subjects were selected by convenience sampling method. Data were collected by the researcher-made social network questionnaire, social capital questionnaire of Forsell et al. (2018), media literacy questionnaire of Simons et al. (2017) and social identity questionnaire of Safari Nia and Roshan (2011). Data were analyzed by structural equation modeling and SPSS23 and Smart PLS3/2/6 with error level of 5%. The findings indicated that the model had the necessary fit which means that social networks and social capital had significant effects on social identity of the sport programs makers of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting through media literacy. It is suggested that similar researches are conducted on the authorities of other sport media including sport news agencies and the managers of sport weblogs.